Batroun, Lebanon

Located in a coastal city in northern Lebanon on the edge of the sea, Villa Papillon by Maurizio Bianchi Mattioli and the team of WORKac draws on light and views to create a home that showcases both its client’s art collection and the home’s stunning context.

Villa Papillon rethinks the relationship between art, architecture, and landscape.

Designed for a Lebanese art collector and his family, the house is comprised of a series of rooms organized around an open-air courtyard.

The main living space and bedroom face the sea, the family room, dining room and kitchen open on to the courtyard.

Above, the children’s bedrooms look out over the living room, so that every space has a view of the Mediterranean.

At the rear, solid walls face the public walkway while in front, glass facades featuring sliding doors open the house fully towards the water.

Interior spaces are organized by a series of walls running perpendicular to the shore, allowing unobstructed sea views in every room and showcasing the extensive art collection.

Each wall becomes its own object, dividing the living spaces while also containing a staircase, cabinets, or other domestic infrastructure.

Louvered steel and aluminum trellises continue the folded form of the green roof over parts of the courtyard, strategically designed to provide shade in the summer, while letting sun in during the winter months.

The triangular formal language of the villa’s roof planes is carried continuously across building, patio, pools and surrounding landscape.

Project: Villa Papillon
Architects: WORKac
Lead Architects: Amale Andraos and Dan Wood
Project Architect: Maurizio Bianchi Mattioli
Design Team: Eyub Acikgoz, Zahid Ajam, Nevin Blum, Nathalia Galindo, and Ericka Song
Client: Private
Photographers: Miguel de Guzmán and Rocío Romero